Toyota Enters the Auto Show With a Swagger

By MICHELINE MAYNARD; Nick Bunkley contributed reporting.

Published: January 8, 2007

If there is one word to describe how Toyota Motor has behaved in its 50 years in the American market, it is carefully -- careful not to expand too fast or to appear brash in its goals, lest it stir up political resentment as it gathered market share at the expense of Detroit.

But Toyota is making some surprisingly aggressive moves this week at the North American International Auto Show here as it heads into markets long dominated by its American and European rivals. And the moves represent a notable shift for a company where conservatism has been a watchword. On Sunday, Toyota unveiled the Crew Max, a bigger, four-door version of its new Tundra pickup truck, which itself will be the biggest truck Toyota has sold in the United States.

And on Monday, Toyota's Lexus luxury division will take the wraps off two high-performance models, including a powerful sports car, that are the first in a new line of cars it has dubbed F -- for fast.

The new vehicles, analysts say, are an important sign of Toyota's direction as it is about to pass Ford Motor to become the second biggest player in the American market, and vies with General Motors for global leadership.

While Toyota executives insist its actions do not represent a departure, the vehicles and the company's actions speak louder than its words. This shift can be traced back to Toyota's decision five years ago to build a plant in San Antonio chiefly to make big pickups, unlike its other American factories, which can produce a variety of cars and light trucks.

And, within the next few weeks, Toyota will most likely announce the location for its eighth North American assembly plant. Three Southern states remain in the running for the plant, which would open by decade's end, said a senior Toyota executive who spoke on condition of anonymity. And that plant may not be its last.

No longer does Toyota fear the reaction it faced as recently as the 1990s, like accusations that it had dumped minivans at lower prices than it charged at home, or a tax on its imported luxury vehicles that Detroit carmakers did not have to pay.

The new models and the new plants are a sign that ''Toyota is confident and that they don't have any concerns about going after whichever market they deem to be their next frontier,'' said Karl Brauer, editor-in-chief of Edmunds.com, a Web site that offers car-buying advice.

Indeed, Toyota executives now feel no political heat as the company expands.

''The fact of the matter is that there is very little, surprisingly little backlash,'' said Yukitoshi Funo, the chief executive of Toyota Motor North America and the company's highest-ranking executive here.

A big reason, he said, is that Toyota has been investing billions of dollars and creating thousands of jobs in all parts of the United States, from California to Michigan and Southern states. Another is that many companies, not just automakers, participate in a global market.

''Fortunately, I think maybe American society has undergone some change,'' Mr. Funo added.

That change makes it far more palatable for Toyota to introduce vehicles like the Crew Max, aimed squarely at pickup truck buyers who need to haul equipment and want four full doors, not just the modest escape doors found on extended cab trucks, and essentially do business from their trucks.

Beyond that, Crew Max has 44.5 inches of rear leg room -- 10 inches more than many coach airplane seats -- and is available with Toyota's biggest engine, a 5.7-liter V8 with 381 horsepower.

That is a departure from Toyota's reputation for building fuel-efficient vehicles. And it is far cry from Toyota's first full-sized pickup, the T-100, whose lack of power and towing capability made it made it merely a pale imitation of those from G.M., Ford and Chrysler.

But the protectionist heat Toyota faced back in the early 1990s forced it to develop what one company executive, the late former vice chairman Robert B. McCurry, once called a ''political truck,'' deliberately designed to skirt criticism that Toyota was attacking an American stronghold.

That is not the case this time. Moreover, engineers at Toyota's operations in the United States were given authority for Tundra and will be getting more such assignments for vehicles that will be sold only here, Mr. Funo said.

That is not an easy transition, in what has been a Japan-centric company, said Jeffrey K. Liker, a professor of engineering at the University of Michigan.

''For them, the real risk of globalization has been diluting their culture and losing their identity as a company,'' he said. ''They've been working very hard to avoid that, but at the same time they'll admit that's been difficult for them.''

The shift, however, is necessary, to ease the workload in Japan that has mushroomed as Toyota has grown, and to keep Toyota in touch with American consumers, Professor Liker said.

Detroit companies are watching Toyota's efforts with a mixture of skepticism and concern. G.M.'s chief executive, Rick Wagoner, said his company is ceding no ground to Toyota, especially on pickups.

''We've shown we can compete well at that game,'' said Mr. Wagoner, whose company recently rolled out new versions of its pickups. He went on, ''Toyota's good, but let's be honest, Ford and Dodge are not easy competitors in this segment either. I think it's going to be a tough fight.''

On Sunday, Mark Fields, president of Ford's operations for the Americas, showed off the new version of Ford's biggest truck, the Super Duty. ''We will remain America's favorite truck for many years to come,'' Mr. Fields declared.

But trucks are not the only place where Toyota is branching out. The Lexus luxury division, now approaching its 18th birthday, has grown slowly from its original two cars to a lineup that stretches from an entry-level sedan to a big S.U.V.

In recent years, Lexus has been updating its bland image, most notably with the IS, a sports sedan aimed at younger, well-heeled buyers who otherwise would gravitate to the BMW 3-series or Audi A4.

Now IS is going to gain power and speed. On Monday, Lexus will show the IS-F, as well as a new version of the LF-A, a two-seater sports car it showed in Detroit two years ago. That car startled the industry but Lexus was silent about plans to build it. Now, it will, say Toyota officials, with an F-series designation.

Lately, Lexus has been looking at both ends of the market, from premium small cars to stratospheric luxury cars, to see where else it can go, said Bob Carter, its general manager. Officials have been intrigued to see the IS draw customers from Toyota's Scion brand, which is aimed at young trend-setting buyers.

That suggests some young consumers might skip entirely the mainstream Toyota brand and head to Lexus, or other luxury car brands. In order to keep them, Toyota has no choice but to become more bold, Mr. Brauer of Edmunds.com said.

''There is an element within Toyota that says, 'Let's go beyond pure sales success and look at statements and positioning and what we want people to think about Toyota.' They're going to start playing a little more to that element than they have in the past.''

Photos: The Lexus IS-F is a new offering from Toyota. (pg. C1); Yukitoshi Funo, chief executive of Toyota in North America.; Toyota introduced the Crew Max, a bigger, four-door version of its Tundra pickup, its largest truck sold here. (Photographs by Fabrizio Costantini for The New York Times)(pg. C3)